How the cybersecurity skills shortage hurts business ROI and security

When you take a look at the cybersecurity skills shortage, it isn’t getting any better so far. As businesses plan for what’s to come with the ever evolving cyberthreats out there and look to improve their security spending, knowing how this cybersecurity skills shortage affects them can help find ways to remediate the problem before it’s too late.

A study by ESG and ISSA reveals that 70% of organizations have been affected by the cybersecurity skills shortage.

27% of organizations find that the skills shortage has had a significant impact on their organization.

43% of organizations find that the cybersecurity skills shortage has had somewhat of an impact.

For how the cybersecurity skills shortage impacts organizations when you take a closer look and go in-depth, the research shows that 63% of organizations find the cybersecurity skills shortage leads to an increase in workload on the existing staff; which brings about high burnout rates, human error and an overwhelmed cybersecurity team.

Furthermore, 41% of organizations have found themselves in the position of having to hire junior employees to train rather than hiring people with the appropriate level of skills needed. This means there’s a lengthy skills gap to fill for security needs while the junior employees receive proper training. With this being the case, businesses end up being less secure in the meantime.

If that weren’t enough, 41% of organizations end up spending disproportionate amounts of time on high-priority issues and incident response, but little time on planning, strategy and training. So, there’s no time for proactive measures that would improve cybersecurity efficacy, mitigate risks and streamline operations. All of which are needed if a business is going to reduce the chances of risks and vulnerabilities getting the best of them (and their business).

Another area that gets affected is the opportunity for cybersecurity to be aligned with the business processes. 39% of cybersecurity pros find that as a consequence of the skills shortage the cybersecurity staff has limited time to work with the business units, which would bring about such an alignment. Getting cybersecurity aligned with the business process is fundamental for a strong defense.

Lastly, 39% of businesses find the cybersecurity skills shortage leads to a situation where cybersecurity pros are unable to learn and/or fully utilize their security technologies to their full potential. Once more, threatening the security posture of a business, but also revealing that the spending for those security tools gets wasted seeing as the tools don’t get used effectively since the cybersecurity pros at the companies are too busy to use them correctly.

These findings paint a very realistic picture of what businesses have to deal with in the absence of qualified cybersecurity personnel, as well as the limits the cybersecurity skills shortage poses on CIOs working within those businesses.

If you’re in a similar situation, please feel free to contact us. If there’s any way the cybersecurity skills gap is going to get filled right now, it is through finding a partner that has the necessary expertise and covers all the bases that a business may need for their cybersecurity journey.

ABOUT NCX

NCX Group is committed to helping our customers identify and mitigate the risks inherent in today’s interconnected environments and business processes. NCX realizes that when it comes to helping businesses protect their critical information assets, the stakes couldn’t be higher.